Crossing-protector for high-tension lines.



PATENTED JUNE 16, 190sv J. F. DOSTAL. CROSSING PROTECTOR FOR HIGH TENSION LINES.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.2I, 190B.

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PATENTED JUNE 16, 1908.,

J. F. DOSTAL. caossme PROTECTOR FOR HIGH TENSION LINES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 27, 1906.

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JOHN FRANK DOSTAL, OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO WILLIAM J. BARKER AND ONE-THIRD TO CLIFFORD W. HUMPHREYS, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

CROSSING-PROTECTOR FOR HIGH-TENSION LINES.

No. 891,049. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 16, 1908.

a Application filed February 27, 1906. Serial No. 303,162.

To all whom it may concern: liable than short ones to be blown down, or 55 Be it known that I, JOHN FRANK DOSTAL, damaged by lightning, etc.

a citizen of the United States, and a resident I have therefore been led to devise my of the city and county of Denver, State of present invention, which has for its object to Colorado, have invented certain new and provide, at comparatively small expense,

useful Improvements in Crossing-Protectors effective protection against injurious results 60 for High-Tension Lines, of which the followfrom accidents of the kind mentioned. ing is a specification, reference being had to In carrying out my invention I provide the drawings accompanying and forming each upper conductor with a detachable secpart of the same. tion where it crosses the lower line, and con- Where lines of aerial electrical conductors nect such section in its particular line by 65 cross, as for example where a high tension means of connecting devices so constructed power transmission line crosses a telegraph and arranged that if the section should or telephone line, it is of course necessary to break the two parts thereof will instantly decarry one line above the other. If an upper tach themselves from the rest of the line.

conductor of the crossing section or reach The result is that before either part can come 70 should break at any point one or the other in contact with the lower conductors they loose ends thereof may fall upon a conductor will both have been disconnected from their of the lower line, thereby connecting the two own line and hence no further injury to electrical systems. The high tension cureither electrical system can follow. It is rents are thus diverted into the telegraph or clear that with such a construction the poles 75 telephone system, resulting in burning out for the crossing section of the upper line need some, if not all, of the instruments conbe no taller than sufficient to carry'the connected therewith and causing danger of seductors thereof well above the other line,

rious injury or even loss of life to persons and that the poles need be practically no using the instruments or engaged about closer than the regular distance apart. 80 the same. However infrequent such acci- It is evident that if the crossing section dents may be, the possible damage thereshould sag into contact with the lower line from is a grave menace to life and property, injurious results would follow, and my invenand precautions must therefore be taken to tion therefore provides that whenever the obviate such occurrences. The expedient section sags to a dangerous point it will dis- 85 commonly employed for this purpose is to connect itself, as though a break had occarry the upper conductors a considerable curred. distance above the lower lines, on poles or The precise nature of the invention will be other sup orts set close to ether at that more readily comprehended when explained point, so t at if a break shou d occur in one in connection with the annexed drawingsfliwi of the upper conductors, even close to one of which illustrate the preferred form. Therein, the supports, the broken end, or ends, will Figure 1 is a erspective view showing two not be long enough to reach the lower lines, lines crossing, t e lower being, for example, a

but will swing clear of the same without comtelephone or telegraph line, and the upper a ing in contact therewith. This plan, howpower transmission line equipped with my ever, possesses a number of disadvantages. invention. This figure also shows the way in In the first place it involves considerable adwhich the invention operates. Fig. 2 is a deditional expense, due to extra poles and tail elevation showing the preferred form of 45 greater length of the same. The upper lines connector, secured in position on the insula- -are also less readily accessible at that point tor. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the connector for inspection, repair of insulators,'etc. Furwithout the insulator, but with the line wire therrnore, in some locations it is impractiattached. Fig.4is aside elevationof theconcable to locate the poles close together, as nector, partly in longitudinal section. Figs.

50 for example at street crossings, where the 5 and 6 are cross sections on lines V-s-V, and

poles must be at least as far a art as the VIVI respectively. width of the roadway. Hence t e poles at Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, A such places must be very high and therefore indicats a telephone or telegraph line, which very costly. In any case tall poles are more may include any number of wires, supported ing on the line below. The devices whichl prefer to employ for thus detachably connecting the conductor sections with their respective wires are illustrated in Figs. 2 to 6 inclusive.

The wire beyond the pole is connected to a socket member G, having one end conveniently formed for that purpose, with an eye H provided with a grooved loop-engaging device of oval form, I. The wire may be firmly secured by passing the end through the eye, forming a loop around the device I, and then twisting the end tightly around the main part of the wire, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. At the other end of the member G is a clownwardly open hood J of elongated form and having a substantially spherical engaging surface K on the inside of its outer end. The socket member G is secured to the insulator L, in the groove M, by a tie-wire of the usual form, N, passing around the other side of the insulator and having its ends wrapped around the socket member, as shown in Fig. 2. The socket member is arranged with the hood J horizontal, and to insure that such position will be maintained, as for example against the tendency of the tie-wire to turn the device, the body of the socket member is made of elliptical cross section, as shown in Fig. 5, withits longer axis horizontal. Consequently when the device is placed in the insulator groove it is unable to rotate therein, at least to an objectionable extent. This precaution effectively protects the inside, or socket, of the hood from dirt and the weather.

Engaging thehood G is a hook member 0,

- having an upwardly and inwardly extending a hook P with a substantially spherical'end bearing on the inner spherical surface K, of the hood. The other end of the hook member is formed with an eye Q and loop device R, like those on the socket member, for like connection with the crossing reach or section between the poles E and F. The body of the hook member is of the knife-edge or triangular cross section shown in Fig. 6, so as to shed water readily and prevent accumulation of ice or dirt thereon. Connecting devices of this kind are provided for each line conductor at the poles E, F, which support the crossing section, the wires coming to the poles'being secured to the eyes of the socket members and the sections of the line between the poles being secured at their ends to the eyes of the hook members. This arrangement is clearly shown in Fig. l, The section of each conductor between the poles is thus detachably connected in circuit, the stretch or mechanical tension of the wire serving to hold the hooks firmly in theirsockets. When, however, a break occurs in the reach between the poles the hooks at each end of. the broken section are by gravity instantly caused. to drop out of the sockets, thus entirely disconnecting the broken parts from the rest of the line, whereupon they can fall harmlessly' "to the ground. The quick separation of the connecting devices is aided by the resiliency of the wire, which, when the mechanical tension is suddenly released by the breaking of the wire, acts to throw the hooks positively. out of their sockets By reason of the curvature of the engaging faces on the hook and socket members, a normal amount of sagging will not disengage the parts. But should the section sag below a predetermined point, into dangerous proximity to the lower line the downward turning of the hook members will draw them out of their sockets and allow the entire section to fall. The degree of sag which can occur without such disengagement depends of course-on the ,design of the connectors, particularly in respect to the degree of curvature of the engaging faces, and the devices can readily be designed so as to disengage themselves at any desired amount 0" ea It will be observed that the hook-member and socket member are out of contact or en gagement with each other except on their spherical engaging faces. This arrangement permits the crossing reach of the conductor to sway freely in the wind, whilethe substantially spherical form of the engaging surfaces permits the swaying to turn the hookmembers in any direction without impairing the electrical connection with the socket' members. At the same time this motion of the hook-members causes their engaging surfaces to rub or grind on the corresponding surfaces of the socket-members, thereby keeping the contact or engaging surfaces clean and bright and insuring good electrical con-- nection.

From the foregoing it will be seen that my invention provides very effectively against injurious consequences following contact of the upper and lower lines due to sagging or breaking of the former.

The connecting devices can be manufactured and applied at small cost, and the plan is free from the expense and incon-. venience of the methods heretofore in vogue. The particular form herein described is merely the preferred embodiment and may be modified in various ways without depar ture from the proper scope of the invention as defined by the following claims. What I claim is: 1. In a crossing protector for high tension lines, the combination of asocket-mernber consisting of an elongated body portion adapted for rigid securement on an insulator and terminating in a downwardly open hood provided with a spherical concave engaging surface on the inside of its outer end; and a hook-member curved downwardly and rearwardly out of contact with the socket member and terminating in a spherical convex face engaging the correspondingly concave surface in the hood of the socket-member, whereby the hook-member is permitted to turn freely in all directions on the said concave surface as a bearing.

2. A socket member for a crossing protector for high tension lines, comprising an elongated body portion adapted for rigid securement on an insulator, terminating in an oval upwardly convex and downwardly open hood provided with a spherical concave surface on the inside of its outer end.

3. A hook-member for a crossing protector for high tension lines, comprising a body portion having at one end means for connection with a conductor, and having its other end curved rearwardly and terminating in a rearwardly disposed spherical convex face.

4. In a crossing protector for high tension lines, the combination of a socket-member consisting of an elongated body portion adapted for rigid securement on an insulator, having one end formed for electrical connection to a main conductor and having at its other end a downwardly open hood provided with a spherical concave engaging surface on the inside of its outer end; and a hook-member curved downwardly and rearwardly out of contact with the socket-member and hav ing a spherical convex face engaging the correspondingly concave surface in the hood of the socket-member, whereby the hook-member is permitted to turn freely in all direc tions on the concave surface of the hood as a bearing; said hook-member having at its other end means for electrical connection to the crossing section of the conductor, as set forth.

5. In a crossing protector for high tension lines, the combination of a conductor comprising main sections and an intermediate cross section; a pair of socket-members each consisting of a body portion having at one end means for electrical connection to the main section of the conductor and having at its other end a downwardly open hood provided with a rearwardly facing spherical concave surface, the said socket-members being arranged with their hoods toward the crossing section of the conductor; insulating supports to which the socketmembers are secured; and hook-members electrically connected with the said crossing section at the ends of the latter, each hookmember curving downwardly out of contact with the adjacent socket-member and terminating in a spherical convex surface engaging the correspondingly concave surface in the hood of the adjacent socket-member; as

set forth.

JOHN FRANK DOSTAL. Witnesses:

Josnrn F. FUGAZZI, RUFE GENTRY. 

